TERMINALLY ill patients have easier access to care in their own homes, thanks to a National Lottery grant of £775,114.

The Butterwick Hospice, Marie Curie, and the Durham Dales and Sedgefield NHS primary care trusts, have joined forces to extend the home palliative care service offered to the terminally ill and their carers across the Durham Dales and Sedgefield borough.

Dignitaries and guests celebrated the news of the grant award by the New Opportunities Fund during the relaunch of the service at the Butterwick Hospice in Bishop Auckland yesterday.

Graham Leggatt-Chidgey, chief executive of Butterwick Hospice Cares, said: "I am delighted we are able to develop this vital service with the support of the New Opportunities Fund and our other partners.

"It enables us to address the needs of the many patients who wish to remain in their own homes, with their loved ones, as their illness progresses."

The money will pay for an extra 27 hours of qualified care time in homes in the Durham Dales, and a further 18 hours in Sedgefield borough.

It will also see the Butterwick Hospice open one-day-a-week hospices at the Richardson Hospital, in Barnard Castle, and at the community hospitals in Stanhope and Sedgefield.

Deborah Richardson, team leader for the Marie Curie Nursing Service, said: "Marie Curie has had a presence in the area for a number of years and now we are working more closely with the hospice.

"Instead of having two services that deliver similar things, we have joined forces to form the palliative home care team."

Work has already begun on introducing the services, which will also receive an investment of £425,000 a year from the two primary care trusts and partners involved in the scheme.

The palliative home care team services are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, on receipt of an appropriate referral from district nurses or other health care professionals.

Jo Rathbone, nursing manager for the palliative home care team, said: "This service will support people and their carers wherever they are, whether they are in their own home, or residential or nursing homes. It is about trying to deliver a service they want."